The incidents of frequent fires in the groundnut godowns in Gujarat have become a matter of serious fight between the state govt and the agri co-operative Nafed- with each accusing other for the continuing mishaps.
Holding a press conference in Rajkot on Tuesday Nafed Chairman V R Patel said that the fire may not be catching innocently. He felt a scam in the whole episode and demanded a probe into the matter.
Patel also said that though usually Nafed is the sole procuring agency every year, this time the state govt also directly appointed a few agencies to procure groundnut. A collusion between local procurement agencies and godown owners are being suspected.
Nafed Chairman also sharply reacted to the statement of the minister of agriculture in the government of Gujarat, R C Faldu who said earlier that Nafed is the sole agency appointed for the procurement.
“In the election year, state govt allowed several local agencies to procure groundnut who mixed dust and undesirable stuff in the sack; and now in order to escape from being caught out, they are doing this”, felt Nafed Chairman.